Advertisements often communicate health risks to the general public. For example, an advertisement may indicate that losing weight can reduce an individual's risk of contracting heart disease. However, advertisements that are directed to the general public are unlikely to cause individuals to take action. For example, advertisements may not be relevant to an individual, such as when an individual has a healthy weight. Others who could reduce their risk of contracting heart disease may ignore the advertisement because it is directed to the general public. As a result, the health promotion program may be ineffective.
One solution to this problem is directly contacting individuals by a physician to communicate the risk of contracting a disease and provide personalized recommendations. For example, if a physician tells an individual that losing weight may reduce the risk of contracting heart disease, the individual may be more likely to lose weight compared to when the individual sees an advertisement. However, many individuals do not regularly see physicians or they may visit a physician too late to prevent contracting a disease. Moreover, personal contact by a physician may be too expensive to effectively administer for all diseases and for each individual.
One tool that has been developed for predicting and minimizing future behavioral health-related hospital admissions is U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0224416 A1 (the '416 publication). The '416 publication identifies individuals at high risk of hospital admission. If the individual is at high risk, the '416 publication discloses intervening to modify the risk factors that place the individual at high risk.
Although the tool of the '416 publication identifies individuals at high risk for a specific disorder based on medical history, the '416 publication does not allow identifying a high risk for a plurality of diseases. The '416 publication also does not analyze the amount of improvement that an individual can obtain by making lifestyle changes prior to communicating with the individual. Accordingly, the '416 publication does not prioritize communication to individuals based on the level of risk or the amount of potential improvement to risk.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.